Hungarian guitarist Elek Bacisk is a cousin of Django Reinhardt, and has continued his tradition of blending swing and gypsy elements into a coherent, expressive jazz mode. Bacisk initially studied classical violin and played gypsy songs in Budapest, then switched to jazz guitar.

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Bacsik,Elek

Guitar Conceptions

10.07.01

Original Release Fontana French 680240

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Badini,Gerald

Swing Machine

04.02.03

Gerard Badini, self-taught clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, made his professional debut at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club in 1952. He had begun his musical training as a classical singer, and picked up the clarinet in 1950. While roulette wheels spun and clicked and the elite of Europe lost fortunes, Badini honed his musical craft in various traditional jazz bands. A tour of the European continent alongside Sidney Bechet was a chance to be heard by a more expansive jazz audience at venues such as the Salle Pleyal in his native Paris and Festival Hall across the pond in London.

Lou Bennett began as a bop pianist, then switched to organ and became a solid player in the late '50s. With Jimmy Smith's virtuostic approach as inspiration, Bennett left piano behind in 1956, and toured the East and Midwest with his organ trio from 1957 through 1959. Bennett left America for Paris in 1960. He recorded there, played at the city's Blue Note club with Jimmy Gourley and fellow expatriate Kenny Clarke, who became one of his regulars alongside Rene Thomas. Bennett made only one return visit to America, appearing at the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival. He led his own group during the '80s.

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Blake,John

Quest

01.11.95

John Blake (vln) with Joey Calderazzo (p), Charles Fambrough (b), Joe Ford (ss), Ben Riley (dr), Omar Hill (perc), and Grover Washington, Jr. (ss); John Blake is back with a cast of all fellow Philadelphian musicians except for Ben Riley, and it's an acoustic band. Grover Washington, Jr. joins in two selections, Coltrane's Moment's Notice and his own blues contribution to the session, Val's Blues

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Blakey,Art

Paris Jam Session: Jazz in Paris

24.04.01

Original Release 1961 Mercury 832 692; This 1959 concert in Paris by Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers has been sporadically available on various labels, but this reissue in Verve's Jazz in Paris series is the best sounding and best packaged of the lot. Blakey's group of this period (Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Jymie Merritt, and Walter Davis Jr.) is in great form during an extended workout of Morgan's intense blues "The Midget," and Dizzy Gillespie's timeless "A Night in Tunisia" is kicked off by Blakey's an electrifying solo.

Pierre Blanchard (vln) with Lee Konitz(as/ss), Cesarius Alvim (b), Alain Jean-Marie (p), Andre Ceccarelli (dr), Herve Cavelier (vln), Herve Derrien (cel), Vincent Pagliarin (vln), and Michel Michalakakos (vla); The French have had a tradition of great jazz violinists ever since Stephane Grapelli started the dynasty. Blanchard, a very talented instrumentalist, is also a very good writer. The trio headed by Alain Jean-Marie, and the string quartet, provide a majestic setting for Lee Konitz's subtle improvisations

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Blue Stars / Salvador,Henri

Pardon My English / Plays the Blues

16.07.02

French vocal group and orchestra organized by Blossom Dearie in the mid-'50s. The group had big hit with French version of "Lullaby of Birdland" but momentum and popularity waned upon departure of Dearie and Fats Sadi

Trumpeter Donald Byrd spent a few months in France during 1958. A Paris concert resulted in two LPs' worth of material which were reissued on this Polydor CD in 1988. Byrd's quintet at the time included Bobby Jaspar (on tenor and flute), pianist Walter Davis, Jr., bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Art Taylor.

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Byrd,Donald

Jazz in Paris: Donald Byrd Quintet Parisian Thoroughfare

01.07.91

The second of two CDs that document a Paris concert by trumpeter Donald Byrd also features Bobby Jaspar on tenor and flute, pianist Walter Davis, Jr., bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Art Taylor

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Clarke,Kenny

Plays Andre Hodeir

12.12.95

Original Release Epic N 3376; Sep 23, 1957+Sep 26, 1957 (recording); The best example of this drummer's work in France features Martial Solal (p).

Marc Copland (p) with Gary Peacock (b) and Billy Hart (dr); Marc Copland is a brilliant composer-pianist. Gary Peacock and Billy Hart are greats not needing introduction. The music in At Night was created after a few weeks' tour by the trio. Copland had previously recorded on Sunnyside as the pianist of the Bob Belden Ensemble. Besides working with the trio, Copland has recently been working with James Moody.

Performing 21 lullabies, including an original, six songs by Alec Wilder and quite a few numbers that are traditional.

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D'ambrosio,Meredith

Silent Passion

04.03.97

13 Tracks Performing duets with guitarist Gene Bertoncini

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D'ambrosio,Meredith

Another Time

01.11.95

Meredith d'Ambrosio (voc/p); Selections include: While We Were Young, Small Day Tomorrow, Someday My Prince Will Come, Skylark, Wheelers And Dealers, Rain Rain, Dear Bix, Lazy Afternoon, Love Is A Simple Thing, A Child Is Born, I Was Doin' All Right.

Meredith d'Ambrosio (voc/p); Selections include: I Got Lost In His Arms, Baltimore Oriole, Land Where The Goods Songs Go, Once In A Blue Moon, Blame It On My Youth, Rip Van Winkle, Never-Never Land, Up Jumped Spring, Funny Girl, Everytime We Say Goodbye, It Never Entered My Mind.

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D'ambrosio,Meredith

It's Your Dance

01.11.95

Meredith d'Ambrosio (voc/p) with Harold Danko (p) and Kevin Eubanks (g); Meredith's delicate voice, along with airy accompaniment and hip lyrics, will remind some of Sheila Jordan's early Blue Note LPs and others of Irene Kral's work. A unique modern jazz vocal stylist who likes to let her players stretch out between choruses

Chano Dominguez, based in Cadiz, Spain, is a powerful pianist and gifted composer who brings jazz and flamenco together in this exciting, innovative CD. Dominguez weaves jazz lines and harmony with the varied rhythms of flamenco, from its lighter styles of tango and buleria to the darker, bluesy seguirilla and solea, and beautifully integrates the fiery percussion of clapping and dancing with bebop

John Doughten(ts, bs, cl) with Eddie Higgins(p), Phil Flanigan (b) and Danny Burger(d); Selections include: You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, Stars Fell On Alabama, Once I Loved, Body And Soul, On The Alamo, A time For Love, But Beautiful, Let's Fall In Love, Little Girl Blue, I Remember You, Polka Dots And Moon Beams, After You've Gone

French pianist Raymond Fol made significant contribution to European jazz in the '50s,'60s and '70s. He started playing traditional jazz in a band with his brother and Boris Vian from 1945 to 1947. The Fols also played in The Be Bop Ministrels for two years, after which Raymond Fol worked with Jean-Claude Fohrenbach and then Django Reinhardt from 1949-1951. He recorded with Reinhardt the next year. Fol also recorded and played with Roy Eldridge, Johnny Hodges, Dizzy Gillespie, Sidney Bechet, Guy Lfitte and Stephane Grappelli in the '50s and '60s. He toured Europe with Gillespie in 1952. Fol played in Rome for a year in 1958, and led a trio at the Mars Club in Paris in 1961, occasionally doubling on celesta. He was a guest soloist with the Ellington orchestra in 1969 and 1974, and worked with Ellingtonians Paul Gonsalves in 1970 and Cat Anderson in 1977.

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Gainsbourg,Serge

Cinema de Serge Gainsbourg: Musiques de Films 1959-1990

09.07.02

Original Release Universal 586818; 72 Tracks Compilation

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Gainsbourg,Serge / Goraguer,Al

Jazz in Paris: Jazz & Cinema Vol.3

16.07.02

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Gardony,Laszlo

Behind Open Doors

13.02.01

Laszlo Gardony (p), Jamey Haddad (d), John Lockwood (b); Selections include: Come With Me, Round Midnight, The Other One, Behind Open Doors, Mystical, The March Of 1848, There Will Never Be Another You, Blue In Green

Original Release Polygram 517049; Stan Getz leads a piano-less quartet at the Salle Pleyel in 1966, with veteran drummer Roy Haynes and two talented musicians still in their twenties at the time, bassist Steve Swallow and vibraphonist Gary Burton.

Fred Hersch (p) with Joey Baron (dr), and Charlie Haden (b); Selections include: I Have Dreamed, Enfant, The Peacocks, What Is This Thing Called Love, Blue In Green, This Heart Of Mine, Child's Song, Cadences

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Higgins,Eddie

Those Quiet Days

10.09.92

Eddie Higgins (p) with Kevin Eubanks (g) and Rufus Reid (b); Legendary Eddie Higgins of Chicago's London House fame has recorded on his own and beside jazz greats Coleman Hawkins, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard et al. The reunion of Eddie with guitarist Kevin Eubanks and bassist Rufus Reid has resulted in this CD that blends the musicianship of three generations of great jazzmen in a program of great jazz standards and original compositions.

Eddie Higgins (p) with James Martin (d) and Don Wilner(b); Selections include: Lullaby Of The Leaves, Danny Boy, What Is This Thing Called Love, Liebeslied, Portrait In Black & White, Siciliano, Just In Time, Pavanne, The Dolphin. Vocalise

Original Release 1995 Musidisc 500562; 1970 studio session with bassist Larry Richardson and drummer Richie Goldberg. Four of the six tracks are standards which the pianist played many times during his long career, including a lively "Them There Eyes," a rather wild "There Is No Greater Love," and a striding solo interpretation of "You're Driving Me Crazy"

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Hodeir,Andre

Jazz Et Jazz (Remastered)

18.02.03

Original Release Philips 200 073

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Jaspar,Bobby

Modern Jazz Au Club Saint Germain

26.06.01

Original Release Verve 159941

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Jaspar,Bobby

Jeux de Quartes

04.02.03

Bop-oriented soloist - Sax (Tenor), Flute

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Jazz Groupe de Paris

Joue Andre Hodeir

16.07.02

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Kanza,Lokua

Toyebi Te

30.07.02

From the Democratic Republic of Congo, has a lilting, pan-African style. He might not show the roots of his homeland, but this is ineffably an African record — largely acoustic, melodic, and carried by Kanza's gentle voice. The record works best, perhaps surprisingly, when he doesn't sing in English — in large part because the English lyrics are execrable ("Good Bye" being a prime example). He does veer into smooth jazz/R&B territory at times, which really doesn't serve him well; there's more to him than that, and the glibness has very little of the depth he manages elsewhere

In 1999, The Argentinean pianist/ composer Guillermo Klein released Los Guachos II. It was a critically-acclaimed recording that advanced the parameters of Latin jazz with its ingenious melding of straight-ahead North American swing with chacarera, milonga and tango and dance rhythms from Argentina.This recording, Los Guachos III, a 20-track, two-CD release from Sunnyside, picks up where the previous CD left off. It also heralds the evolutionary and evolving compositional and arranging genius of a musician who is destined to leave his mark on 21st century music. It contains a number ensemble configurations featuring the cream of the crop of young musicians throughout the Americas, including Argentine trumpeter Diego Urcola, Puerto Rican alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon, Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza, American guitarist Ben Monder and drummers Marlon Browder and Jeff Ballard. The name “Los Guachos” roughly translates as “the homeboys’ and many of these artists performed on Klein’s previous project

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Konitz,Lee

Dovetail

01.11.95

Lee Konitz (as/ss/ts/voc) with Harold Danko (p) and Jay Leonhart (b); Selections include: I Want To Be Happy, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, Sweet Georgia Brown, Cherokee, Penthouse Serenade, Play Fiddle Play

Carolyn Leonhart (voc) with Rob Bargad (p, voc), Jimmy Cobb (d), Billy Drummond (d), Jay Leonhart (b), Daniel Sadownick (perc), Dave Gilmore (g); American audiences are getting to know her as one of the backup singers for Steely Dan, a position she has occupied since the Becker/Fagan combine reunited in 1996. (She's the female in the middle on the group's recent PBS special, and she's looking forward to the band's Summer 2000 tour as these notes are written

Michael Leonhart trumpet / voice, Jon Herington acoustic / electric guitars / Dobro; The idea for this album finally clicked late one night on a tour bus driving along a highway somewhere in North America. Sharing the bus with six other band mates, I decided to retreat to the back lounge with my acoustic guitar for a little quiet time. A little while later Jon Herington popped his head through the door, picked up the guitar now lying on the seat next to me as I sat watching the open road go by, and began to play some old jazz ballads. Performing five nights a week with him as part of Steely Dan's 2000 U.S. tour, I had grown quite accustomed to hearing his ferocious guitar solos night after night, but I had yet to hear this softer, romantic side. It was then and there that I began putting together the final pieces for a duo album I had begun thinking about a few years back. After having recorded "Aardvark Poses" and "Glub Glub vol. 11", the former a pianoless quartet of jazz originals, the latter a film-ish co

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Lightsey,Kirk

Lightsey Live

01.11.95

Kirk Lightsey (p); Almost an hour of one of New York's favorite pianists, recorded digitally in concert at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

Red Mitchell (voc/p); Selections include: Simple Isn't Easy, Foreigners, How You Sound, I'm A Homebody, Love's Not Only The Blues, Where's Don Ellis Now, I Thought Of You, When I Have You, As You Are, It's Always A Friend.

Oscar Peterson and Stephane Grappelli are in top form as they romp through five standards and an original blues on this studio date, one of two initially taped for Musidisc and later reissued with its companion album in a two-record set by Prestige. Finally available on a Verve CD in its "Jazz in Paris" series, the veterans are joined by two premiere sidemen, bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and drummer Kenny Clarke.

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Petrucciani,Michel

Days of Wine & Roses: Owl Year 1981-1985

18.06.02

This 2-CD set contains 15 tracks selected by producer Jean-Jacques Pussiau from the six albums Petrucciani recorded for Owl Records from 1981-1985. The first CD includes six Petrucciani originals and two by drummer Aldo Romano; the second is all standards. Lee Konitz - Sax (Alto)/ Ron McClure - Bass/ Michel Petrucciani - Piano/ Aldo Romano - Drums

Hubert Rostaing (Sax (Tenor), Clarinet) will always be remembered as Stephane Grappelli's successor with Django Reinhardt's Quintet of the Hot Club of France. He worked early on in Algiers with the Red Hotters, moving to Paris in 1939. Rostaing played with Reinhardt on and off during 1940-48, appearing on many recordings including some in which Django was utilizing electric guitar and adjusting his style to bebop.

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Routch,Bobby

Something Old Something New

01.11.95

Bobby Routch (fr. horn), Harold Danko (p), Rufus Reid (b), C.J. Everett (drums); This is french horn player Bobby Routch's first jazz record as leader/arranger, having collaborated previously as a guest or team member with Ornette Coleman and Kirk Lightsey among others

Tony Scott (cl/sax/p/mdln) with Bill Evans (p), Scott LaFaro (b), Paul Motian (dr), and Juan Sastre (g); All the songs on this record are memorials to people Scott admired, including Art Tatum, Anne Frank, and Stefan Wolpe. Recorded in the fall of 1959 two months before Evans' Portrait In Jazz.

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Sharpe,Avery

Unspoken Words

01.11.95

Avery Sharpe (b/elb) with Ronnie Burrage (dr), John Blake (vln), Clyde Criner (p/synt), Joe Ford (as/fl), William Franco (perc), and McCoy Tyner (p/1 selec); Sharpe is best known for his work with McCoy Tyner

Toots Thielemans is far better-known for his virtuoso harmonica playing, he sticks exclusively to guitar on this pair of studio dates, initially taped in 1961 for Polydor. Accompanied by pianist Georges Arvanitas, bassist Roland Lobligeois, and drummer Philippe Combelle, Thielemans leads a primarily laid-back session with the focus on the leader, covering standards ("Willow Weep for Me" and "We'll be Together Again"), adding a soft wordless background vocal to "Satin Doll," and giving a loping treatment to Milt Jackson's "Bags' Groove."

Pianist Kenny Werner is a wonderful improviser, who generally releases noteworthy solo recordings. Besides stints as an educator and author, Werner is also recognized as a first-call session musician. On this 2002 release, recorded live at a Paris club, the pianist and his young rhythm section add spice and verve to the commonalities often witnessed in modern jazz piano trio fare; w/Michel Terrioux - Piano Tuner & Ari Hoenig - Drums

Glenn Wilson (bsx) with Steve Kessler (p), Jim Masters (b), Tony Martucci (d); Selections include: It Was A Very Good Year, This I Dig Of You , More Than Too It's Five, One Man's Blues, All The Things You Could Be By Now If Sigmund Freud's Wife Was Your Mother, Winter Wonderland, Lester Left Town, Sweet Thing, Mayberry R.I.P.